Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate.Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have nocontinuing city here, but we seek one to come.

Gospel Tract #57

Holiness

by George C. Clark

God's instruction to Israel, when He made them His
peculiar people, was, "You shall be holy, for I the
Lord your God am holy" (Lev. 19:2). Then He
instituted the tabernacle service, with all its types
and ceremonies, to teach men the way to holiness.

In ancient times, when an Israelite sinned, he was
required to bring an offering, a kid of the goats or
sheep, to the door of the sanctuary, confess the sin or
sins he had committed, and then slay the victim with
his own hand. The object lesson was plain ­ sin
brings death. Israel was told by the prophet, "The
soul who sins shall die" (Ezek. 18:4). Paul later
confirmed this by saying, "The wages of sin is
death." (Rom. 6:23).

The death of the sinner is demanded by the broken
law. That is justice. But the Israelite transgressor
who presented himself at the sanctuary with an
offering brought a substitute. His lamb or goat could die in his stead. Thus, God provided a way
by which a sinner could be forgiven, and the law could be satisfied, a way by which justice could
be vindicated, and yet the transgressor could retain his life. That way was vicarious atonement ­
someone else may bear the penalty for the sinner's transgression.

An additional lesson available to the guilty Israelite who appeared at the door of the tabernacle is
that in his progress back to God and holiness, he could only do certain things. He could bring a
lamb or a goat; he could confess his sin; he could slay the victim; but here, his work ended. At
that point, God provided Israel with a mediator to complete the process. Only the priest had
direct access to God's altar. He alone could approach God to offer the blood, which was the
essential element of sacrifice. "The life of the flesh is in the blood. I have given it to you upon
the altar to make an atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the
soul " (Lev. 17:11).

Thus, even in the Old Testament's symbolic service, man was taught that he cannot be saved by
his own works. An anointed priest must take the blood of the sacrificial victim, place it or
sprinkle it upon the appropriate furniture of the sanctuary, and, in the words of instruction to
Aaron, "make atonement for them before the Lord" (Lev. 10:17).

When a transgressor brought a lamb to the temple, he placed his hands upon its head while he
confessed his sins, thus symbolically placing his sin upon the head of the innocent animal, which
then died in his stead. His sin was thus transferred, through the animal's shed blood, to the
tabernacle itself. In the case of ordinary sins, the blood was either placed upon the horns of the
altar of burnt offering or sprinkled upon its side. This constituted a record of the sin itself.

After an Israelite slew his offering, and the priest administered the blood, the Israelite was
forgiven. But a record of the sin remained. In fact, the sin itself had simply been transferred to
the tabernacle, and in some way had to be disposed of. This was accomplished in the yearly
ceremony called the Day of Atonement.

This holy day was a day of judgment, on the outcome of which depended the life of the nation.
Every case from the preceding year was, in type, reviewed. The apostle describes it: "In those
sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year" (Heb. 10:3).

On the Day of Atonement the high priest went into the most holy place of the sanctuary with the
appropriate sacrifices. "He shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness
of the children of Israel and because of their transgressions in all their sins. And so shall he do
for the tabernacle of the congregation. . . . And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the
Lord, and make an atonement for it. . . . And he shall sprinkle the blood upon it with his finger
seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel " (Lev.
16:16-19).

The figure is obvious. In this ceremony, the priest removed the accumulated sins of the year.
God said, "Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him
all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, thus
putting them upon the head of the goat, and he shall send [the goat] away by the hand of a fit
man into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not
inhabited " (Lev. 16:21-22).

Here, in type, was a prophecy of Christ taking our sins away, removing them forever. No
Israelite, as he afflicted his soul before the tabernacle that day, could have avoided the lesson:
God would do away with sins, once those sins were confessed and repented of. In Christ, that
prophecy is fulfilled. He bore our sins on the cross and took them far away.

"You Shall Be Holy"

Sin separates from God. But God wants to separate us from sin so that he might reunite us to
Himself. Tenderly, He calls His people to "follow peace with all men, and holiness, without
which no man shall see the Lord " (Heb. 12:14).

Yes, my reader, it is God's plan for His people to be holy. This was typified, as we have seen,
under the law. But, since "it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away
sins," Jesus had to shed his own precious blood in order that we might obtain this true,
antitypical New Testament holiness. And, "if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an
heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God " (Heb. 9:13-14)?

Friend, do you know anything about this experience? Has the blood of Christ been applied to
your heart? You see, the Lord wants to cleanse us as well as forgive us. And "If we confess our
sins," 1John 1:9 tells us, "he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins AND to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness."

Growing in Holiness

One does not grow "into" the experience of holiness; however, he does, or should, grow "in" it.
The experience of being made holy is referred to in the Bible as "the baptism of the holy Spirit"
(Acts 1:5; 1Cor. 12:13), and it is a definite experience, an instantaneous operation of the Spirit of
God. Unfortunately, some of God's children, after receiving this blessing of holiness, wander
away from the holy life to which they are called. We see this among the saints who lived in the
days of the apostles, too. Unwise saints at that time, such as Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5),
departed from holiness, even though the apostles were living and working among them.

Doubtless, many will ask whether this cleansing is essential. God's specific message to His
people was, and still is, "You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy " (Lev. 19:2). In
both the Old and New Testaments, the people of God were called holy. What about us? Aren't
we to be called holy?

My dear friend, if you have received the baptism of the Spirit and been made holy, then pursue
holiness with all your strength. The reward is not to the one who starts the race but to him who
completes it. Remember the exhortation of the man of God: "We are made partakers of Christ if
we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast until the end " (Heb. 3:14). We go to holiness
when we go to Christ for his baptism, but we are to grow in holiness after we receive it.
Otherwise, we will not be saved from the coming wrath.

Every sanctified believer who is wise sincerely strives to please God after his conversion. Paul
warned the born-again saints in Corinth, who were evidently unstable concerning the faith, to
cleanse themselves "from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of
God." This exhortation is a challenge to every double-minded believer, to every soul torn
between a love for this world and his love for Christ.

We notice the burden that was on Paul's heart for the Thessalonians when we read of his longing
to come to them "that we might see your face and perfect that which is lacking in your faith"
(1Thess. 3:10). And why did Paul want to bring this perfection to the Thessalonians? "To the
end that God may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before God" (1Thess. 3:13).

My dear reader, when God called us to holiness, He was calling us not just to be made holy but to
stay that way so that we might always be available as a vessel suitable for the Master's use.
God's family is made up of believers whose sins have been washed away by the blood of Jesus
Christ. But how many of us are still clean, still walking in the holiness we were once made
partakers of?

May God grant us all the grace to be among the number who will stand before Him with "clean
hands and a pure heart" because we have "kept the faith" after we were brought into it.